...when (will) the consequences of widespread government dependence and inept, no-accountability federal bureaucracy be clear to everyone? We’ve already seen it all over the federal government -- the VA, ATF, Health and Human Services, U.S. Secret Service, the NSA, the IRS, the U.S. Postal Service, NOAA, DHS, and now the Office of Personnel Management . . .

I asked John about doing a caricature of Bernie Sanders in the grave digging scene from Hamlet, with Bernie substituting for the Prince of Denmark, and Karl Marx subbing as poor Yorick's head. I believe that John has exceeded my expectations!

(And yes, for all you Shakespearean purists, I know the line is not "I knew him well", but, "I knew him, Horatio")

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Corpsman with Company C, First Battalion, Seventh Marines against elements of a North Vietnam Aggressor (NVA) battalion in Quang Ngai Province Republic of Vietnam on 28 March 1966. Petty Officer Ingram accompanied the point platoon as it aggressively dispatched an outpost of an NVA battalion. The momentum of the attack rolled off a ridge line down a tree covered slope to a small paddy and a village beyond. Suddenly, the village tree line exploded with an intense hail of automatic rifle fire from approximately 100 North Vietnamese regulars. In mere moments, the platoon ranks were decimated. Oblivious to the danger, Petty Officer Ingram crawled across the bullet spattered terrain to reach a downed Marine. As he administered aid, a bullet went through the palm of his hand. Calls for "CORPSMAN" echoed across the ridge. Bleeding, he edged across the fire swept landscape, collecting ammunition from the dead and administering aid to the wounded. Receiving two more wounds before realizing the third wound was life-threatening, he looked for a way off the race of the ridge, but again he heard the call for corpsman and again, he resolutely answered. Though severely wounded three times, he rendered aid to those incapable until he finally reached the right flank of the platoon. While dressing the head wound of another corpsman, he sustained his fourth bullet wound. From sixteen hundred hours until just prior to sunset, Petty Officer Ingram pushed, pulled, cajoled, and doctored his Marines. Enduring the pain from his many wounds and disregarding the probability of his demise, Petty Officer Ingram's intrepid actions saved many lives that day. By his indomitable fighting spirit, daring initiative, and unfaltering dedications to duty, Petty Officer Ingram reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Petty Officer Ingram: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.

There are seventy nine living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”

Number fourteen in our series Hollywood Went to War, is not the 'droid you're looking for, it's Sir Alec Guinness!

Guinness put his theater career on hold in 1939 to join the Royal Navy. He landed some 200 British soldiers on the beaches of Sicily during the July 1943 invasion of Italy, and went on to ferry arms to partisan fighters in Yugoslavia. During one such voyage in 1944, Guinness’s boat was caught in a violent hurricane off the coast of Italy, and he only narrowly managed to guide the ship into a harbor before it was thrown onto a rocky shoreline and damaged beyond repair. Guinness would later put his wartime experience to use portraying military officers in such films as “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Tunes of Glory,” and even played Adolf Hitler in 1973’s “Hitler: The Last Ten Days.”

Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year. He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba...

...During the war, he was granted leave to appear in the Broadway production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path, about the RAF Bomber Command.

"Despite the mistakes that were made in Iraq, it was still a viable country until Barack Obama made the headstrong decision to pull out all the troops, ignoring his own military advisers, just so he could claim to have restored "peace," when in fact he invited chaos and defeat. This is only the latest of Obama's gross misjudgments about Iraq, going back to his Senate days, when he vehemently opposed the military "surge" that crushed the terrorist insurgency, as did Senator Hillary Clinton also, by the way. "

Sunday, July 26, 2015

U.S. fighter pilots told the New York Times that they weren't allowed to bomb a ISIS field headquarters near Ramadi due to the administration's fear of collateral damage. President Obama wages war the same way the Amish go hunting. They sneak up on a deer in the forest and then build a barn around it.

"Weeks away from retirement, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno believes that the U.S. military could have thwarted the rise of the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) had the Obama administration left troops in Iraq beyond 2011.

...the top Army officer, who has spent 39 years in the military and spent more time in Iraq than any other U.S. general, labeled the rise of IS “frustrating to watch,” suggesting that it was a mistake for the United States to pull out of the region at the end of 2011.

I go back to the work we did in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 and we got it to a place that was really good,” Odierno detailed. “Violence was low, the economy was growing, politics looked like it was heading in the right direction.”

If we had stayed a little more engaged, I think maybe it might have been prevented,” he supposed, adding later that “it would have been good for us to stay” after the end of 2011. Though he had recommended in 2009 that the United States keep 30,000-35,000 troops in Iraq beyond 2011, his recommendation was rejected."

Presidents can laud Islam as a “religion of peace,” they can host Muslim celebrations in the White House, and they can wage propaganda war all they want, yet absolutely none of it will matter so long as ISIS appears to prevail on the battlefield.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Herda (then Pfc.) distinguished himself while serving as a grenadier with Company A. Company A was part of a battalion-size night defensive perimeter when a large enemy force initiated an attack on the friendly units. While other enemy elements provided diversionary fire and indirect weapons fire to the west, a sapper force of approximately 30 men armed with hand grenades and small charges attacked Company A's perimeter from the east. As the sappers were making a last, violent assault, 5 of them charged the position defended by Sp4c. Herda and 2 comrades, 1 of whom was wounded and lay helpless in the bottom of the foxhole. Sp4c. Herda fired at the aggressors until they were within 10 feet of his position and 1 of their grenades landed in the foxhole. He fired 1 last round from his grenade launcher, hitting 1 of the enemy soldiers in the head, and then, with no concern for his safety, Sp4c. Herda immediately covered the blast of the grenade with his body. The explosion wounded him grievously, but his selfless action prevented his 2 comrades from being seriously injured or killed and enabled the remaining defender to kill the other sappers. By his gallantry at the risk of his life in the highest traditions of the military service, Sp4c. Herda has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

There are seventy eight living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”

Lucky #13 in our series Hollywood went to war, is Commander McHale himself, Ernest Borgnine.

Borgnine joined the United States Navy in October 1935, after graduation from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut. He served aboard the destroyer/destroyer minesweeper USS Lamberton (DD-119; AG-21 and DMS-2) and was honorably discharged from the Navy in October 1941. In January 1942, he reenlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he patrolled the Atlantic Coast on an antisubmarine warfare ship, the USS Sylph (PY-12). In September 1945, he was honorably discharged from the Navy. He served a total of almost ten years in the Navy and obtained the rank of gunner's mate 1st class.

Borgnine's military awards include the Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, American Campaign Medal with bronze star, and the World War II Victory Medal. In 1997, Borgnine received the United States Navy Memorial, Lone Sailor Award.
On December 7, 2000, Borgnine was named the Veterans Foundation's Veteran of the Year. In October 2004, Borgnine received the honorary title of chief petty officer from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott. The ceremony for Borgnine's naval advancement was held at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. He received the special honor for his naval service and support of the Navy and navy families worldwide. On February 5, 2007, he received the California Commendation Medal.

For information about purchasing his completed art or commissioning new projects, contact him at

john555cox @ hotmail.com. (No spaces)

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